


The Birth of Galena

by kingthranduiil



Series: Greek Mythology Campaign [3]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 22:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5022568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingthranduiil/pseuds/kingthranduiil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soteria did the best she could to help those who requested it, though she always had to abide by the Fates’ designs. Sometimes she couldn’t provide safety for someone no matter how much they prayed for it - the spirit saw a lot of harm come to those who sought shelter in her. She hated that she couldn’t always save everyone, though she understood that it was just part of her duty as a spirit-personification of the gods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Birth of Galena

**Author's Note:**

> So this is another part of my writing for my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, because I have no life and I love these characters way too much. Please excuse any horrible Greek translations.

Soteria wandered aimlessly through through the crowded streets of Patrae; she had decided this morning to manifest herself at the site of her shrine. Today she took the form of a girl, around twelve years of age if she had to guess. She usually looked older, though she just supposed she felt younger than most times she manifested. Her shrine was just off the coast of the bustling port city but far enough from the docks so as to remain peaceful and sacred. The spirit hoped no one would come to the sanctuary while she was away; she hated to miss any worshipers. The people of Patrae, and occasionally places even further away, sought out her shrine to pray for guidance and protection; she was the personification of safety, preservation, and deliverance from harm, after all, and she didn't like to let anyone down.

Soteria did the best she could to help those who requested it, though she always had to abide by the Fates’ designs. Sometimes she just wasn’t capable of protecting someone the Fates had decided would not live; sometimes she couldn’t provide safety for someone no matter how much they prayed for it - the spirit saw a lot of harm come to those who sought shelter in her. She hated this, hated that she couldn’t always save everyone, though she understood that it was just part of her duty as a spirit-personification of the gods.

A call of fear broke Soteria out of her reverie: a bolt of lightning had just struck near the center of Patrae. Certainly a sign of Zeus or his grey-eyed daughter, Athena, she thought. She felt the sudden call of people praying to her to protect them from the king of the gods’ wrath. Soteria reached out with her mind, searching for these people. She found them one by one and laid a charm of protection over them, like a sort of armor that would help to deflect bad luck and danger like water droplets off an oiled cloak. It was by no means perfect in its shielding abilities, but it would certainly help, and wrapped around them a feeling of peace and safety.

Screams were beginning to be heard across the streets, and Soteria felt the distinct feeling of _death, not safe, harm, fear_ leaking out from the citizens there. Ever curious and willing to help, Soteria ran towards the city center, the spirit’s feet silent against the brick-laid road. She reached the source of the screams quickly, and came to a stop outside the Patrae library. A beautiful, dark-haired woman lay on the dais just before the large, wooden doors to the library, which were now burned black with soot, as was the area surrounding the woman, with jagged patterns radiating out from where she lay. 

Frightened patrons poured out from the entryway while giving the woman a wide berth, not wanting to share in her fate. Two men, who seemed to be wearing the same style of clothing as the woman, exited the building before seeing the woman, and they dropped down to kneel beside her. They called out her name, _Myrrine_ , as one of them put a hand to her wrist’s pulse point, and the other a hand to her face, as if to attempt to wake her. She did not move, even as Soteria sent out a blanket of protection around her and the men next to her, however useless it was at this point.

A few moments passed before a young girl, looking to be no older than eight or nine, slipped out onto the dais. A look of horror and then disbelief washed over her face, before tears started to well up in her dark eyes. “Mother!” she cried, before running over to the woman on the ground. The girl fell down beside her mother and grabbed her hand, squeezing hard as if it would wake her up from her slumber. “Mother,” she called again, this time less urgent and with more realization - she was young but surely understood the dark concept of death.

Soteria felt her heart break at the sight of this dark-haired girl leaning over the body of the mother she bore so much resemblance to. At this moment was also when she felt a sort of tug towards the young girl, as if there was something connecting them. _Perhaps it was the Fates_ , Soteria thought. She usually felt this when she tried to protect something she couldn’t, though this time was...somehow different. Death already followed this girl, though there was something strange about this feeling as well. It didn't follow her in the sense that she was destined to die soon, but rather in the sense that it cloaked her, protected her somehow. And protection was something Soteria knew quite a bit about.

But this protection apparently did not extend to her mother. Although if the king of the gods was involved there wasn't much it could have helped anyway. Zeus tended to be the end-all be-all of divine intervention. As if the gods were listening to her thoughts, a dark mist started to pervade the immediate area. It wasn’t thick; in fact it wasn’t all that different from a normal fog. But it couldn’t have been - it was much too dark, and it was the dry season, besides. The mist began to thicken, and the two men who had been kneeling quickly stood and retreated a good many feet from the woman. Her daughter however stayed put, seemingly unafraid of the deep shadow that was taking over. Soteria had a thought to run and grab the girl, to save her, but something held her in place. A string, she realized, the Fates were holding her here so she could not intervene. Soteria knew better than to try to defy the Fates, so she stopped struggling against the string Fate had woven for her and for the girl.

She watched with a morbid sort of fascination as the mist was filled in with the darkest of shadows, completely obscuring the girl and her mother. _Hades_ , Soteria realized, before she shut the thought out of her mind. If he really was involved here, and _Zeus_ … Olympus help them all; they could be in for a duel of epic proportions. Literally - the bards would likely write at least one epic poem about it for posterity. A murmur crept through the crowd - at least the onlookers brave enough to have remained. Soteria could feel something happening within the darkness, but it didn’t feel malign, it felt...warm. A warmth almost akin to her protection charm, like the shadows were consoling the child, wrapping her in security and giving her solace and some privacy in this terrible time. She was being comforted, and Soteria felt gratitude toward whatever or whomever was providing this for the girl when she herself could not.

The shadows remained for quite a while there in front of the library. Life seemed to have come to a halt, almost as if the city were now under some kind of stupor. The edges of the shadow were swirling languorously, stretching out from the core before retreating again, not unlike a sea anemone. Even Soteria, nothing more than a projection of a body, felt herself succumbing to the haziness that sprung from the errant tendrils of darkness. 

She had no idea how much time had passed, but suddenly the shadow started retreating. It turned less and less opaque, until she could once again see the shape of the girl through the mist. She tested her bond against the string of Fate, and finding herself free she made her way towards the dais. Soteria climbed the short set of stairs up to the doorway before looking up. What she saw made her stop. Or rather, what she didn’t see. The mother’s body was gone. A small circle of white stone where she had presumably been standing when the lightning struck was all that remained of her, surrounded in ash and black-burnt bricks. The girl sat before the spot, fresh tears still making their way down her face. Her hands, stained black with soot, gripped around her middle, as if hugging herself. 

Soteria slowly made her way towards the girl, not wanting to frighten her, and the girl looked up slowly, blinking water from her eyes, which Soteria was now close enough to see were pitch black. The spirit kneeled before the girl and gently touched her small, shaking shoulder.

“Are you alright?” she asked. Soteria knew the girl couldn’t be okay, but this was just something humans always asked in times of distress.

The girl sniffled a bit before answering quietly, “No,” while another tear dripped off her nose.

Soteria nodded, then asked “Would it be okay if I hugged you?”

The girl’s dark eyes blinked at her, as if trying to comprehend this request. She then nodded, head bobbing up and down as her messy dark hair fell into her face. Soteria leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the child, gripping her tightly. She placed a blanket of her radiant protection around them, wrapped it around the girl in layers so tight Soteria hoped they’d never fall away from her. 

Soteria felt it now, the divine aura surrounding the child, definitively powerful in nature and strong in intensity. She wouldn’t be surprised if even the average human could feel it on her at least somewhat - she was certainly a child of one of the major gods, then. So her guess about Hades’ presence before had been correct. She felt a sudden tug, between her and the girl. _The Fates, again_ , she thought, _pulling me towards her_ …

Soteria rubbed the girl’s back soothingly, whispering soothing words into her hair. She had stopped crying, and she leaned back from the embrace. Soteria reached up to brush away the remaining tears before taking the girl’s hand in her own.

“It will be okay,” Soteria assured the child. “I believe the Fates have a great destiny for you. Though this is a terrible thing, to lose a mother, it will make you stronger.” Soteria stopped, as tears had once again started to well up in dark eyes. Sometimes the nuances of human behavior did escape her, but she would try her best.

Readjusting her posture, Soteria clasped the girl’s other small hand in hers. “The Fates can work in cruel and harmful ways,” she soldiered on, “but they always have a purpose, these tragedies. Sometimes they are not apparent, now or at any point in our lives, but there is always reason for them. This does not make them okay, or make them hurt any less, unfortunately, but it can be of some solace to people.”

The girl glanced upward, sniffling again before nodding comprehendingly. Soteria smiled at her and though the girl did not return it, Soteria felt a small amount of sorrow leave her. She was still surrounded in grief, heartache, and anguish, but these would fade with time. Perhaps, at the bequest of the Fates, Soteria could stick around and help move that fading along. The girl could use some calm in her life. 

“Your hair’s very pretty,” the girl mumbled, running trembling fingers through Soteria’s long golden locks.

Soteria smiled softly at the girl’s kindness, even in her sorrow. “Thank you,” Soteria replied unthinkingly, “this is my favorite color to wear.” Soteria went rigid at her slip up - no one changed hair colors, and certainly not to light hair from any darker shade. But thankfully the girl didn’t seem to notice - her eyes were struggling to remain open against the fatigue that normally followed such a traumatic event.

She yawned, and reached up to cover her mouth, saying “What’s your name?” as she did so.

Soteria didn’t want to reveal her true identity and risk losing Fate’s tie to the girl, so she quickly thought of a soothing word - _γαλήνη, galene, peacefulness, calmness_ \- before replying “Galena.”

The girl yawned again, eyes falling shut as she whispered back, “‘m Erianthe,” before falling asleep against Soteria’s shoulder.

Soteria picked up the girl in her arms, feather-light to a physical construct such as herself, and carried Erianthe into the library. She didn’t look back at the people who were no doubt still curious and wondering - her concern was only for the demigod girl in her arms. She set Erianthe down in one of the leather cushioned chairs by a window in the back of the building, away from prying eyes and the bustling noises that could now be heard from the entrance. 

Soteria wasn’t so powerful as to be able to create a blanket out of thin air, so she made sure Erianthe was secure before padding around the library in search of something warm. She made her way toward the front desk, on which she saw a sign: _“κύριος βιβλιοθηκάριος Μυρρινη,” Myrrine, Head Librarian_. Soteria shook her head before continuing on, finally finding a woolen seat covering across the back of an old sofa.

Returning to Erianthe, she found the girl curled up into herself, as if she could fend off the horrors of the day by doing so. Soteria gently pulled the blanket up over Erianthe, then took the seat next to the girl. She pulled her feet up into her chest and wrapped her arms around them, savoring the feeling of being flesh-and-bone. She’d get to do this quite a lot, she thought, if she was truly going to be Erianthe’s guide - her protection, her deliverance from harm, her safety. It would mean many nights away from her shrine, many days in her mortal, physical form, but Soteria believed it would truly be worth it to keep Erianthe out of harm’s way and on the Fates’ path for her.

Soteria had always hoped for her protection to serve a purpose, and now she had found it. Or rather, the Fates had brought her to it. _This would be the beginning of a great friendship_ , she thought. The Fates had mysterious ways of working, but she knew better than to disregard their influence. She would help keep Erianthe safe throughout her youth for whatever purposes the Fates had aligned for her, and Soteria - _Galena_ \- would be there to protect Erianthe for as long as she needed her.

x-x-x-x-x

_[Soteria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soter_\(daimon\)) (Σωτηρία), personification of the abstract concept of safety and salvation, was worshiped by the Greeks. She had a sanctuary in Patrae._

**Author's Note:**

> So basically the spirit Soteria, now Galena, grows up with Eri (daughter of Hades) and they become best friends until Eri is taken away by the Thieves Guild around age thirteen. You can read the other work in this series for more info on that or feel free to ask about it if you want c:


End file.
